By Simon Bream for Imaginet
Optimizing your website for search engines has always been an essential part of online marketing.
However, the process of improving your website search position has become more complex with the increase of social media relevance as a factor in search engine optimization. If you want to improve your website search position one should take into account the latest factors that influence SEO. Here are four quick SEO tips that will definitely help you to rank higher in the popular search engines.
1. Image-up. Image-up your website. this means that you should find and include as many striking and relevant images on your website and blog postings as possible. The reason for this is that Internet users have become much more image conscious with the rise of social networks like Pinterest. This is an essential aspect of website optimization today.
An article from Forbes stresses this point in no uncertain terms. “There’s a strong trend in social media toward all things visual”. This is based on recent research by ROI Research which shows that with more people engaging with social media from smartphones “.. they’re discovering that taking pictures on the go with a high-resolution smartphone is much easier than typing out a status update. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2012/10/27/how-the-smartest-companies-leverage-visual-social-media/)
In essence this means that visual stimulation is a central factor in promoting and marketing your website. This is supported by analysis which indicates that images have a much better response and interaction rate than text alone.
2. Keywords. Use Google’s keyword tool and other means of researching a set of the best possible keywords for your site. Make sure that you find a balance between competition and search rate; in other words, you should find keywords that have a medium or low competition rate and high search rate. Also, remember to place your keywords in the ALT tags and descriptions of your images.
3. Content. The phrase ‘content is king’ has become a common theme in many articles on online marketing and SEO. What this means is that unless your website or blog is refreshed on a regular basis with content, it is not likely to increase its search engine rankings. As one expert states; “If you go for two weeks without publishing new SEO content on your blog, your rankings will suffer. That I know firsthand.” (http://www.business2community.com/seo/you-should-be-scared-while-i-was-away-my-seo-rankings-dropped-0581145#srlx5lJkLXc7MGFv.99)
4. Using Social Media and social networking
Make optimal use of the main social networks to get the word out about your website. Search engine’s like Google are placing greater emphasis on social media interaction. The main social networks include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+ – all of which can be used to increase social media optimization and influence your search engine rankings. This does not only refer to the way that Google perceives social signals as an indication of popularity. Yahoo and Bing also emphasize social signals as a ranking signal.
Read more… here are some good resources:
- SEOMoz’s Beginners Guide to SEO
- Search Engine Land’s SEO section
- Search Engine Journal’s SEO Beginners Guide
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